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08/01/2011

How to Get Rid of Blue Tint Computer Screen

I've had this annoyance happen a number of times with the ATI Catalyst graphic cards on Windows Vista, and tend to forget how to fix it, so I'm parking this blog here, and hope it will show up in Google searches for people also suffering from this annoyance who can't seem to get any of those geek squad sites to answer or fix this common problem.

Once again, this is a solution I found for ATI Catalyst graphic cards on Windows Vista. Not other systems. Not other graphic cards. This is not a help desk. This is a blog. If you don't have this system and this graphic card, keep looking. And find a geek help site, this is just a blog. Did I mention that this is for ATI Catalyst graphic cards on Windows Vista? Let's hope by repeating this and bolding it, I will fix the problem of people continuing to ask for other answers.

It's likely rooted in the graphics card problem or maybe even the monitor, but here's what it is:

All of a sudden, your screen tints blue. This isn't "the blue screen of death," but a blue coloured tint that makes everything then purple if it is red, etc. -- and it becomes impossible on your eyes. Second Life becomes impossible to see, etc.

You try going into the display settings to see if the colour tints are off -- nothing works there.

You get the latest driver -- in this case HD ATI Radeon 5700 just got a new driver 7/17 -- and yes, if you buy your computers at Best Buy like I do, and aren't a geek buying parts on Newegg and assembling it all yourself, that's the card you got if you got your computer a year ago.

But that new driver does nothing to solve the blue tinting.

So you check cables, turn off, turn on, take out cables, make sure they are all in place, blow on everything, etc. etc. Nothing makes it change.

So you go to the settings for the monitor -- those impossible menus with the impossibly stupid interface where you have to keep plussing and minusing and pushing and getting it wrong and going up and down menus -- really, the dumbest interface there is -- but nothing helps there.

OK, let me help.

This is if you have a PC, of course, we aren't geeks and we don't get Macs.

So you right-click on your desk top and go to PERSONALIZE on the menu -- this is on Windows Vista. You ignore things like colour or changing the colour of Windows -- that won't help.

Go to the bottom, to DISPLAY SETTINGS.

On your first screen, go to ADVANCED SETTINGS.

On your next screen, go to the top to AMD VISION ENGINE CONTROL CENTER.

Truly, ignore all that other stuff that sounds like it might help like "Colour management". Ignore what geeks tell you everywhere which is to change the refresh rate -- you may find you *can't* do that or if you hack out of it to change it will harm your monitor. Ignore.

Next go to the bar at the middle of the page and click again on the AMD VISION CONTROL CENTER.

You get a menu with war game stuff on it.

Over on your left in the middle go to MY VGA DISPLAYS

Select IMAGE ADJUSTMENTS (VGA DISPLAY)

You will see that the little picture of your desktop with a grid over it with arrows is blue/purple.

So grab the arrows or click on the plus or minus as indicated and push it a bit up or down or sideways and watch it turn orange/red -- then it is usually back to normal, you will see pages as white again, the desk top will lose its tint. Yay!

You may have to fuss here a bit, it can take some doing to grab it right and get it back to normal without the tint.

Wow, Catherine Fitzpatrick, way to be an asshole. This solution doesn't work for XP or Windows 7, and if you don't know of a solution for those, you can say so without treating people like they're stupid.

Wow, John, right back at you. You're the asshole. It works for Vista, and that's what I wrote about. I said at the beginning, "This is for ATI graphics cards on Windows Vista". If you have XP or Windows 7, why would you then bang on me?

I'm not required to serve as a help desk. I'm just one person with one solution for one thing that I've put out there for other people to try, it may help them, too, or it may not.

It's not as if they can't use Google and find other geek help forums for other systems. There are gadzillion forums out there for blue screen tint. I've tried many of them and they didn't work. I stumbled on my solution by trial and error.

What I find annoying -- and I'm sure geeks find even more annoying -- is people who ask questions, but can't hear answers or try things to help themselves by walking through the steps. They need so much hand-holding and baby-stepping that you get exhausted trying to help them. They just are too lazy and/or stupid to make the effort themselves.

So my curt but effective answers is what I can offer to people who ask questions but won't read and try solutions.

Like I said: the advice here is just for those that have this particular set of circumstances -- Windows Vista and this particular graphics card -- it's likely related to the graphics card more than anything.

This isn't a help desk nor some place that continues to investigate why things go wrong on everybody else's computer. So move on and search yourself for your particular set of circumstances.

I have a windows vista, and has the graphic card you described, so i really hope you'll be able to answer this.
I got about as far as the adv. settings, but there was no option for the AMD Vision Engine Control Centre.What now?

I read the black, but still have a few questions. I'm running a MAC with a 27" monitor and I've gone through all the steps you describe, but still have problems. Do you have a private email so I can send you more info on the problem? Also, I'm having some problems with the my laptop speakers and wanted to bounce some ideas off of you on that as well. Thanks in advance!
- Hung_Like_Einstein_Smart_As_A_Horse

Thank you so much for this post. I am by noooo means a computer tech person and was freaking out that my power went out yesterday while the computer was on, only to find a blue-ish screen today. And after messing with that stupid color setting interface nothing changed. You did show up as the first google post so thanks!!!!
My screen is fixed!